Contemporary Estimates of
Melville and His Works

Throughout his lifetime, Melville was
remembered chiefly for Typee and Omoo, which
were generally considered to be his best work. With few
exceptions, his later books were almost universally condemned as
too dull, poorly written, or incoherently metaphysical to be
read. After the publication of The Confidence-Man in
1857 he quietly faded into oblivion as a writer of verse, finally
becoming so obscure that most of those who could remember
him at all thought he was dead. Near the end of his life,
however, his reputation began to revive among a small circle of
admirers, who were beginning to discuss Moby-Dick in
addition to the Polynesian romances. Recognition and appreciation
of
Melville's works continued to be limited to a handful of scholars
until the initiatives of Carl Van Doren culminated in the
"Melville revival" of the 1920s.

The articles listed below were
written during Melville's lifetime or shortly thereafter and
discuss his literary accomplishments as they were then perceived;
most of them reflect the general opinion that Melville was a
truly talented writer who somehow always failed to live up to his
potential.